Seven more named to Presidential Search Committee

Oct. 1, 1997

KALAMAZOO -- Seven additional persons have been named to the
Presidential Search Advisory Committee at Western Michigan University,
said Richard G. Haworth, chairperson of the committee and of the
WMU Board of Trustees.

Haworth also announced that the committee will conduct a public
session on Thursday, Oct. 9, in the Kirsch Auditorium of the Fetzer
Center to receive input from the University and local community.
The public session will be from 2 to 3 p.m. or later if necessary.

WMU President Diether H. Haenicke announced in June that he
would retire from the presidency next July to return to the faculty.
The Board of Trustees established the Presidential Search Advisory
Committee in July and named three trustees to it: Haworth; Richard
F. Chormann of Kalamazoo, vice chairperson of the committee; and
Lori B. Waddles of Detroit, vice chairperson of the Board of Trustees.

"Our goal from the start has been to provide the widest
possible representation and participation in the search process,"
Haworth said. "The committee's composition exceeds the requirements
of the state's open meeting law."

Haworth emphasized that persons who cannot attend the public
session can communicate with the committee through its secretary,
Betty A. Kocher, who also is secretary to the Board of Trustees.
Copies of materials provided at the session also will be available
from Kocher.

Those materials include key questions, such as: What are the
principal issues facing WMU in the next three to five years? What
is your analysis of WMU's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats? Persons also will be asked to use a form to identify
characteristics that are most important for a candidate to be
successful as WMU president.

The Board of Trustees also established constituent groups,
each made up of representatives of the faculty, students, staff
members, administrators, alumni and the general public as well
as members of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee. The
names of these representatives are to be announced later.

The board originally established four constituent groups, but
the consultant, Dr. John H. Kuhnle (pron. KOON-lee) of Korn/Ferry
International, suggested that participation would be better if
two groups were formed, using the same number of persons as for
four groups. Participants were nominated by their respective constituencies
and are now being contacted.

The two constituent groups, each consisting of 22 representatives
and the three trustees, will meet in one session each with the
consultant to help develop an institutional profile and desired
presidential characteristics. Comments from the constituent groups
and the public session will be used to create position specifications
that will be presented to the Board of Trustees at its next meeting
Oct. 31 for its review and approval.

Once a position description is approved, the position will
be advertised. The committee will then seek out candidates "observing
the equal opportunity/affirmative action and other relevant personnel
policies and applicable state and federal law and following proven
procedures that will lead to the appointment of the best qualified
person for the presidency," the board stated in a resolution
establishing the advisory committee.

By spring 1998, the committee expects to present the names
of five unranked finalists to the full board. Once five candidates
are identified, the board by law must wait 30 days before making
an appointment. The finalists will be invited to the campus for
public presentations. They also will be interviewed in a public
session of the Board of Trustees.

Individuals are encouraged to contact the Presidential Search
Advisory Committee through Kocher in the Board of Trustees office.
Her telephone number is 616 387-2360 and her email address is
betty.kocher@wmich.edu.
The latest information on the search is available by telephone
at 616 387-4004 and on the World Wide Web at www.wmich.edu/wmu/search/.